halifax bank charges (merged)

Edinburghlass_2

From Martin's article....

Once the case is started there’s a race on between you and the bank; can they get in a defence or at least acknowledge they’ve had the paperwork within 14 days? If not you can ask for a judgment against the bank for the full amount of the claim without any hearing (see step by step guide below).

This is why it's better to use Moneyclaim on the internet, as there your request is likely to be actioned much, much faster than by your local county court and as one eminent legal source said to me, “there is no risk on the internet of a county court clerk wrapping up his uneaten cheese sandwiches in your judgement request form and throwing it away.”

ITConsultant

Evening All,

I just thought I'd post a diary of my progress reclaiming bank charges.

I am looking to the following financial institutions to repay the charges they have imposed:

Halifax Bank: £740 + Interest
Halifax Visa Credit Card
Capital One Credit Card
Clode Plc (Store Card Provider)
Clydesdale Financial Services (Store Card Provider)
Debenhams

All my other accounts I don't think I have any charges on.

Halifax

I went into the halifax branch this week, and requested they send me all charges imposed on my account for the past 6 years. They rang me on Friday saying the details were in branch and could I come and collect them.

What they had actually sent me was 6 years worth of investor account statements, and they said "Well we are not going to make it easy for you".

Luckily I have two very useful items at work - a networked scanner with feeder tray, and a document shredder.

So all 173 pages were scanned to a TIFF file (well 3 tiff files as I had to do it in 3 batches...) and then shredded (with the shredded paper being sent off to be recycled)

Halifax bank charges are noted on the investor account statements as a '94D' - so I fired up Microsoft Office Document Imaging (MODI), ran the OCR procedure over all 173 pages and started searching for all references to 94D.

I was quite shocked that I was only owed £740 to be honest - thought it would have been more. It was also quite interesting to analyse the timing of the charges which is one to note for the future in terms of having the current account prepared for the correct cashflow levels.

My letter to Halifax reads as follows:

"...

Thank you for providing me with the list of bank charges levied against my account in the form of my investors report for the past 6 years. I have now completed my analysis of these documents, and cross referenced it against the electronic letters you have stored against my account. To this end I write to request a refund of the fees you have applied to be account, which total £740.00, as well as the statutory interest I would be awarded in court, which amounts to £57.43, coming to a total refund of fees of £797.43.

I am sure you are now aware that this regime of 'fees' which you have applied to my account are unlawful at Common Law, Statute and recent Consumer regulations, to this end I request this refund as a matter of urgency.

I would respectfully submit that if your organisation does not agree to immediately refund all unfair charges applied to my account, it will not meet the ‘fit and proper person’ test to hold a consumer credit licence under the Consumer Credit Act 1974. In that eventuality, I will submit a 1974 Act complaint to the OFT.

Separately, I am of the view that your charges represent a penalty and are therefore irrecoverable at common law. In the Scottish case of Castaneda and Others v. Clydebank Engineering and Shipbuilding Co., Ltd. (1904) 12 SLT 498 the House of Lords held that a contractual party can only recover damages for actual or liquidated losses incurred from a breach of contract. This is also the position in English law: Dunlop Pneumatic Tyre Co Ltd v New Garage and Motor Co Ltd [1915] AC 79.

UK banks have recently given evidence to the House of Commons Treasury Committee on how bank charges are calculated: "The costs are going to pay for all the people we have who pursue debt, collect debt, speak to customers and chase payments. The way these charges are arrived at is by taking these total costs and making some assumptions about the volume that is going to come through to arrive at the individual charges" (2nd report, 25 January 2005, paragraph 50 – online here: http://www.parliament.the-stationery-office.co.uk/pa/cm200405/cmselect/cmtreasy/274/27405.htm ).

Accordingly, the charges applied to my account are not a reasonable pre-estimate of the bank’s loss in relation to my account. No-one has had to look at my account or telephone me. No one has had to collect anything. Your charges would appear to represent a device to recover global losses (for example, loan defaulters, bad debt write off, including commercial lending in, and out with, the UK).

In addition to full payment of the sum mentioned above I require that you remove any default entry from the register caused in respect of unlawful charges levied by you or which was the result of impecuniosity caused directly by the taking by you of penalty charges which you had applied unlawfully to my account. Please note that mere correction or amendment to the entry will not be acceptable.

Please refund all charges applied to my account within the next 7 days. I reserve the right to commence court proceedings without any further notice, and to seek an additional award for distress and inconvenience, together with legal expenses.

..."

Capital One have yet to respond to my request, and the other firms I will be writing to on monday.

I'll let you know how everything goes.

LESLEY_SCISSORHANDS

RE.HALIFAX

have sent first letter off to bank and have received a letter saying
"IF YOU REQUESTED INFORMATION RELATING TO MANUAL INTERVENTION ON
YOUR ACCOUT I REGRET HBOS PLC IS UNDER NO STAUTORY OBLIGATION TO RECORD THIS INFORMATION AND THEREFORE,IAM UNABLE TO ASSIST FURTHER WITH YOUR REQUEST" theysay i should recive my statements in the next 10 days has anyone else had this reply as have not heard great things about halifax x

Edinburghlass_2

They have 40 days from the time they receive your DPA request so if the send out the statements within the next 10 days that should be within the time limit you gave them.

jpc2001

claimed back in nov and won, tried to claim from nov to jan, and they (halifax) say that I cant claim again on the same account, anyone know if this is true???

Edinburghlass_2

You can start another claim but do be aware they will more than likely close your account after a second claim.

joeblack066

Can anyone tell me if the Halifax charge the full £10 max for the statements? And just to double check (cos I AM gonna start the ball rolling on this today!) am I asking for a list of charges or 6 yrs worth of statements? All help appreciated! Debs.

EvilEdna_2

The SAR asks for a list of charges for the maximum statutory fee of £10. Halifax do appear to be taking the money. The SAR is worded to ask for the list of charges or a full lot of statements if they cannot supply list of charges. I believe the Halifax are sending customers statements.

Edinburghlass_2

Have a read through this Halifax thread to see if they charge the £10, some bank return the full amount.

Use the template letter in Martin's article regarding what you are asking for.

Step-by-step Guides: Bank Charges: Reclaim Your Cash | Top New Bank Account Calculator: Charge them interest Template Letters: (right click and save) Ask for charge details |Initial letter | Second letter | Small claims note Get Updates On Important Changes: Free Weekly Money Tip
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helen81_2

Hi,
Halifax only charged me £5. I asked for 6 years worth of statements. Is this ok? Should I have asked for a list of charges instead?
Its wierd but im so nervous now I've got things going!! Hoping for a good outcome like some Ive read about on here. My claim is only likely to be in the hundreds...will this make them pay up without a fight?..Are they just defending the big amounts to the death?

Helen x